Fugitive - A ShadRouge Story
by PackageHD
Summary: Sequel to A Fathers love. In the final installment of the series, can Shadow protect his family from the bounty hunters chasing him? Will he finally be able to settle down and train Sebastian, raise Brie, and love Rouge? Or will he collapse under pressure? *Note, the other two installments have been oneshots, this will be a longer, multi chapter story. Reviews always help!
1. Chapter 1

Fugitive - A Shadrouge Story

Chapter 1 - Finally settled?

 _Hey everyone, thanks for checking out the story, quick note this is a sequel, so if you haven't read "A father's love" go check it out, it wasn't my best written work, but I'm gonna take my time on this one, it won't be a oneshot, and maybe a little slower paced, but It'll help get the story across, plus this is the last story in the series before I start up a new set of stories! Anyways, enough talk, here's Fugitive._

The sun was beaming down on the secluded island where Shadow and his family had been hidden. Since Rouge was a master thief, and they both worked for GUN for a long time, they could afford the luxuries such as a house on an island. They had been on the run for months now, and this was the first time since the incident with Eggman and Knuckles that the family has had some time to regroup themselves.

Rouge was her normal self, after putting Brie down, she decided to lay out and sunbathe. Shadow and Sebastian on the other hand were not as laid back. Sebastian was nearing his 7th birthday, he and Shadow had been training daily, Shadow wouldn't admit it, but Sebastian had the ability to be way stronger than him. This is one of the only things that truly scared Shadow. Shadow wasn't a hero, nor was he completely evil, he does his share of both, causing lots of damage in the process. Shadow wasn't going to force his son into anything, but he knew if he unlocks his full potential he couldn't be stopped, good or bad.

"Papa Shadow, can we take a break?" Sebastian asked with his arms to his side, he was visibly fatigued.

"Yeah buddy, go rest with your mom, I'll find you two in a minute." Shadow responded, examining his son. _He really is a spitting image of me. Minus the stripes._ What he's referring to is how Sebastian has white streaks instead of red, yet he still has those crimson red eyes from his father. The streaks definitely came from Rouge. Also much like his dad, he wore gloves and hover shoes, yet he didn't have inhibitor rings… _yet_. Sebastian scurried off to find Rouge, meanwhile Shadow had wandered into the house to check on Brie. She was sound asleep when Shadow examined her in her crib. Brie, being mostly bat, was actually an ebony color, like Shadow's fur, yet her wings were white and her eyes were shiny yellow.

Shadow smirked and rubbed Bries tiny hairs on her head, then examined the tiny shirt she wore. _Daddy's girl_ it read. Shadow knew deep down he was gonna be protective of her, spoil her even, yet part of knew if she was anything like her mom, she would be a handful.

Shadow left and found Rouge sunbathing, while Sebastian was in the pool. After examining his gorgeous wife, Shadow laid up next to her on the towel she was laid out on. She wore a black bikini top with pink hearts on them, and some jean shorts.

"Well hey there Shady, I was wondering when you'd come show me some love." Rouge said in a seductive tone.

Shadow was used to it, at first he found it annoying, but over time he grew to love it. He didn't respond with words, instead he pulled her into a kiss and held her tight. After a moment, he pulled back and met her eyes.

"Well, I needed that." He said with the biggest smile he's had in months.

Rouge melted when he smiled, it was such a rare occurrence, even after marriage and family, Shadow had managed to lighten up, but his face was still so cold at times. She studied his dark eyes, she could tell something was on his mind.

"What's bothering you, babe?"

He sat back and watched Sebastian splash in the pool, then laid back to look up a Rouge, who was now sitting up with her hand under her chin.

"Honestly, I just wish we didn't have to run anymore, the kids need a normal life, you know? We're already far from normal, but this? Sebastian talked to me earlier, he kept mentioning his friends and how he missed them, and I feel terrible. If I would've held back on my anger, things would be different." He finished with a huff.

Rouge scooted over and sat her head on his chest, now looking up at him.

"Shady, you protected us. Things happen for a reason, don't think too hard on it, the kids will be fine, plus how many kids can say they've seen so much at such a young age? They're traveling the world!"

Rouge was right in a way, one thing Shadow loved about her is that she always found the light in the darkness, even inside him.

"You're right, and poor Brie is too young to remember any of this." he said with a chuckle.

They both sat there for a moment, just gazing into each other's eyes. The amount of tension between them was crazy, and Shadow broke it with a kiss, then sat up and wrapped his arm around her. The sun was setting, and it was perfect across the ocean.

"Ya know, it may be a long ways away, but when the kids get older and live on their own, I say we move out here, peace and quiet, no sonic to bother you, and so many things to do, you can build whatever you want, it's just us out here!" Rouge said eagerly.

"One day, we will live in a castle together, and you'll be my queen." Shadow said, standing up and extending his hand for her to grab. She took it, and they began walking into the beautiful estate. Sebastian had already made his way inside, he was sleeping on the couch.

"Hey bud, wake up and go shower." Shadow nudged his son, waking him.

"Just a few more minutes dad."

"C'mon kid, up! Let me and your mom have some time to ourselves."

Reluctantly, Sebastian got up and headed towards the bathroom to shower, while Rouge brought over a bag of popcorn and placed it in Shadows lap.

"So, it's my night to pick a movie, are you ready?" Rouge smiled.

Shadow didn't mind movie night when it was his turn to pick, because he always picked kick ass action movies, while Rouge tended to lean towards romance filled movies.

"Sure babe, what did you pick?" He said with a mouthful of popcorn. She couldn't help but giggle at the hedgehog.

"Well, I know you hate the romance movies, but I hate the action movies, so I decided to go with something new, _horror_. This made Shadows ears perk up, leaving a smirk on his face. He was remembering the last time they watched a horror movie together.

*Flashback to Shadow and Rouge's very first movie date.*

"So, I'm not big on horror movies, but Blaze told me she watched this movie with Silver and totally recommended it. It's called Paranormal Activity, ever heard of it?"

The ebony hedgehog shook his head. "No."

"Well good, let's watch it!"

The two cuddled up together on the couch. Technically, the two weren't dating at the time, but they were both single, and they both had very strong feelings for one another, even if they didn't know it yet! About half way through the movie, Rouge turned it off.

"Hell no, never again!" she said with a shiver.

Shadow let out a soft chuckle, then stood up. "Jesus it's 2am, I should get home."

Well, that didn't happen.

Rouge grabbed his arm. "Hey, can you maybe… I don't know… stay tonight? That movie really freaked me out, and I don't wanna be alone."

Shadow was reluctant, but he didn't wanna leave her alone if she was actually scared.

"Sure, let's sleep in here."

Rouge had a couch that pulled out into a bed, so Shadow pulled out the bed and grabbed some blankets from the closet, and some pillows off her bed, then found himself cuddling up into her. Admittedly, this was a foreign concept to Shadow. He had never kissed a girl before, let alone _sleep_ with one. He should've been nervous, but something about being around Rouge comforted him. She slept almost instantly, and after a few moments Shadow realized he had to pee. He crept off and used the bathroom, while he was walking out in the darkness of the room, he heard Rouge call out for him.

"Shadow, where'd you do?"

He decided to have fun with this, he crept up ever so quietly behind the bat and grabbed her suddenly! She let out a ear tingling shriek loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear. Shadow laughed loudly as he wrapped around her.

She responded with a slap, she didn't find it funny once soever.

"Fuck you, hedgehog!" she said in a harsh tone.

Shadow responded by rubbing her cheek, then placing his head on her shoulder.

"I'll never do that again… forgive me."

Rouge couldn't stay mad, she loved him. She had since the first time she met him on Eggman's spaceship so many years ago. Though after he "died" she got engaged to knuckles, things seemed to fall apart when Shadow just showed up out of the blue one day.

"It's okay Shady, but you gotta stay here all night now, no exceptions. Now cuddle me will ya?" She said in a calmer tone. Shadow responded by pulling her in and placing a kiss on her cheek, then falling asleep almost instantly. Rouge just lied there blushing. _Did he really kiss me? Shit why do I always fall in love with people that are bad for me?_ At the time, she wasn't wrong. Shadow has never been a cupcake, but he had gotten better over time. Eventually, she too drifted off to sleep.

*End Flashback*

"Okay, well put the movie on and come here, I'll protect you." Shadow said with a slight tone of laughter in his voice.

Rouge did so, then cuddled up into her husband.

The movie went on for a bit, yet neither of them had been scared in the slightest. Eventually Rouged turned to look up at Shadow. "Hey Shadow, can you promise me something?"

"Probably, what is it?"

"Promise you'll always be here for me."

He studied her for a moment, then hugged her.

"Listen, I know with everything going on, you're worried I'm gonna get hurt. I'll never leave your side Rouge, I promise. Now let's turn this movie off, no offense but it's trash. She only laughed in response, she turned off the TV and walked towards Sebastian's room. Shadow on the other hand, decided to turn on the news.

 _Breaking news, the President has signed over the rights to let GUN join the hunt for Shadow the Hedgehog, the price on his head is now 2 million dollars, the list of elites hunting him is growing daily, including the likes of Silver the Hedgehog and former companion of Shadow, Omega. Though his whereabouts are still unknown, we will update you more as this story develops._

He turned the tv right back off and peeked in on Sebastian. Rouge had tucked him in, sound asleep. Brie was also snoozing. He walked off to find Rouge.

Walking into their bedroom, Shadow found her laid out on the bed, glaring up at him with seductive eyes. "Come here mister tough guy."

He obeyed, climbing into bed, noticing she was only wearing a t-shirt.

They met with a kiss, this more passionate than the few they shared earlier. The kiss became more and more heated, and before they knew it, clothes were coming off.

Shadow began kissing her neck softly, teasing her for what was about to come. Things were about to get good when the door flew open. Shadow lunged off her to find Sebastian standing in the doorway.

"Papa, what were you doing to mama?" he asked so innocently.

 _Shit, this couldn't be anymore embarrassing._

"Uhh, oh me and mommy were just wrestling, just playing around that's all." Shadow answered quickly.

Sebastian didn't see, to buy it, but he didn't speak on it anymore. "I had a nightmare, can you come tuck me in mom?" he sounded frightened. Rouge had slipped on some clothes while Shadow was talking to him.

"Of course, I'll be back Shady." She said as she followed their son out the door.

 _Fuck, that could've ended way worse if he entered a few minutes later._ Shadow thought to himself. He stretched out and decided it was time to sleep anyway, once Rouge returned they cuddled up together and talked for a few moments, before they drifted off to sleep.

 _That's CH1 in the books, zero conflict, I know, but that all changes next chapter, trust me! I figured it would be best to have a bit of a chill intro to the story, I didn't describe Sebastian or Brie in my last story, so I made sure I did that here. My biggest flaw is probably not detailing my stories enough, but hey, I'm working to get better so stick with me! Reviews are great, good or bad, they help me become better and I take nothing personal, so please be honest! I plan to take my time with this series, so I have no clue how often I'll be putting up chapters, sometimes it might be once a week, then sometimes it might be multiple in a day, it depends how much free time I can find outside of college, anyways, thanks for reading and stay tuned for CH2!_


	2. Chapter 2 - Unwanted Guests

Chapter 2 - A unwanted guest

Shadow was awakened suddenly from his deep slumber. The house shook for a moment… he sat up, ears perked up listening carefully. He heard rain dripping off the window behind him.

 _Shit, just thunder._

He looked over as lightning lit up the room, Rouge was curled up sound asleep.

 _How did I get so lucky?_ He said with a smirk.

He glanced over to the clock… 3am. Shadow normally wasn't the jumpy type, but he wasn't the same since he killed Eggman. Admittedly, he did do it protecting himself and his family, but it was like killing a old friend, if it wasn't for Eggman, Shadow would likely still be in a cryogenic slumber in the pod. Even if the doctor did manipulate him, he did a lot more good than most realized, for Shadow at least. Shadow felt the guilt deep down, he hadn't admitted it to Rouge, but he had been having nightmares, Eggman was haunting him.

 _ **What goes around comes around Shadow.**_

 _ **You're next.**_

 _ **Do you really care about your family? Turn yourself in.**_

He could hear Eggman's voice in his head.

 _So much for sleep._

Shadow rolled out of bed and walked into Brie's room, she was still snoozing to his surprise. How did the storm only wake him up? He then crossed the hallway and heard Sebastian snoring. Everyone was accounted for, everyone was sleeping. He then decided he should just go sit on the couch. He grabbed a banana from the basket, then sat down and turned on the TV. The news was still on.

 _In other news, Sonic the Hedgehog finally spoke out about the actions of his rival Shadow, here's what he said: "_ _ **Shadow may have been protecting his family, but we both signed an agreement with the President to allow us to stay on this planet, the agreement clearly said NO KILLING. Shadow, if you hear this, just turn yourself in buddy, they're really gunning for you.**_ "

Shadow muted the tv, sitting there deep in thought. Eggman had told him to turn himself in during one of his dreams. Was it a sign, or just coincidence? Shadow sat there flipping through the channels, when he found nothing amusing he just turned it back off. He laid back rubbing his quills.

 _I need to do something, if I don't act, those bounty hunters and GUN will… I need to talk to Rouge about this._

He got up to go to their room, then realized it's still early in the morning, she was still asleep.

 _Hmph, guess a walk won't hurt._

He grabbed his leather jacket to keep him from getting cold, he didn't mind the water though. He headed out the door and walked onto the sand, the sky would light up every few minutes, the storm was dying down. He walked for over an hour, trying to decide what he should do.

 _Should I really consider turning myself in? Maybe I'll build a shelter underground to hide my family in, just in case of an attack. Maybe I'll-_

"Well well, a island getaway aye Shadow?" The voice wasn't familiar, mainly because whoever it was used a voice scrambler, but it made him freeze in his tracks. It was still dark, he couldn't see who was talking.

"If you wanted me dead I guess I already would be, show yourself." Shadow called out.

After a moment, the figure dropped down from a palm tree. The figure lit a flare and tossed it between them. Though the area was now lit, Shadow still couldn't make out much, the figure was covered from head to toe, but appeared female. All he could see for sure was bright yellow eyes, they resembled Brie's in a way…

"Lose the voice scrambler, I'd like to know who's dumb enough to challenge me on my own turf."

The figure removed a small device, then removed the balaclava covering its face altogether.

"Blaze…?" Shadow had trouble getting out the words.

"Indeed. I wish we would've met under better circumstances Shadow the Hedgehog, but I think you know why I'm here." She said approaching cautiously.

"Blaze, listen… you and Rouge are really good friends, please don't make me do this." Shadow said backing away slowly, yet she continued to approach. As she got closer to the light from the flare, he could clearly see her now.

She wore a black jumpsuit and black combat boots, yet he could clearly see the lavender fur. She also wore a holster on his waist, she was carrying a silver pistol. A flame had also ignited in her hand.

"Shadow, I don't wanna fight you, let alone have to kill you, so please make this easy on us both… come with me and I promise you'll get a fair trial to defend your actions." In the blink of an eye, she held her hand out for him to grab, the flame that was once in it dying almost instantly.

 _Hm… I can't just give up… but maybe I can trick her._

He placed a hand on his hip. "Blaze, let's make a deal."

She put her hand back by her side before answering. "I'm all ears Shad."

He pointed to a log laid out in the sand, and the two cautiously sat down on opposite ends. "I'll turn myself in if you guarantee immunity for my family."

She raised a brow. "Hmmm, I'm not supposed to, but how about this, you turn yourself in and I'll tell them you were alone."

Shadow studied her, she was hard to read, but he didn't know her to be deceptive. Unlike him…

"Deal, so, do you gotta cuff me?" He said holding out his hands for her to cuff.

"Yeah, thanks for not putting up a fight." She said with a warming smile.

 _Hope we can still be friends after this Blaze… because you're not gonna like this._

As soon as the cuffs were on, Shadow threw his arms around her neck and brought her down, choking her with the cuffs.

"Gah- Sha- you bastard!" She struggled, but eventually got out and rolled into a battle stance. Shadow broke the cuffs and cracked his neck.

"I don't have all night cat, let's get this over with." Shadow said, almost smiling.

"I didn't want it to come to this, but you pushed it Shadow. NOW!"

Out of nowhere, Silver and Omega attacked from behind. Shadow rolled for a moment, laying face down in the ocean water before he regained himself and stood.

 _3 on 1… now that evens the odds._

"GIVE UP SHADOW, WE DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU." Omega said in his robotic tone.

"Yeah Shadow, it's three of us against you, use your head." Silver jumped in.

 _Enough of this shit._

"Chaos… BLAST!" Shadow sent yellow darts out in all directions.

Blaze managed to get into cover before it hit, but Omega and Silver took a big hit. It affected Silver greatly, leaving him unconscious. Omega was left with a few dents, nothing more.

"SHADOW, I KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU, YOUR CHANCES OF DEFEATING ME ARE APPROXIMATELY 2.6%." Shadows former robotic companion responded.

"We will see about that, tincan." Shadow growled, he was about to lunge when he was hit with a kick to the back of the head.

"Stay down Shadow." it was Blaze, using her cat like sneakiness to get behind him. Shadow didn't like the way this was going, he could win two on one, but he would fair better if he could separate them.

He landed a quick kick to blaze, then jumped up and spindashed Omega repeatedly. It did little at first, but Shadow kept targeting the same spot, causing substantial damage to the robots battery pack.

"LOW POWER MODE ACTIVATED."

 _Hm, that leaves the cat._

Shadow turned and was met with an uppercut. He could feel blood roll out of his mouth. Before he could react, Blaze had jumped on him, raining down fists of fury. Shadow starting going numb, he was about to unleash his dark side, his anger was about to go over the limit. Within the next few hits, he began to glow with red mist emitting off his fur. Blaze stopped and backed off, but the damage had been done. Shadow leapt up and grabbed her by the throat.

"YOU'LL PAY WITH YOUR LIFE CAT!" he squeezed harder, he saw her eyes begin to fade… _her eyes_. Almost immediately he was calm. He looked into Blazes eyes and saw his daughter, her eyes were so similar to Brie's.

"Get lost cat, before I change my mind."

With nothing hurt more than her pride, she wobbled over to Silver and began to drag him off.

"This isn't over, Shadow."

"Hmph, if you had a brain you'd stay the hell away from me, next time we meet one of us might leave in a bodybag." he responded in a harsh tone.

Blaze studied the wounded hedgehog before carrying Silver away. Omega was still in low power mode, he was no threat.

Shadow took a moment to regain himself, then began to dash home.

Meanwhile… *Rouge's POV*

She felt the sun hit her eyes through the blinds. She decided rolled over to grab Shadow, but felt nothing but a pillow. As she opened her emerald eyes, she met the clock. _5:30_. _Guess I should get up and feed Brie._ She thought to herself with a long stretch. As she was getting up she sat in front of her mirror, glancing over her appearance. _Jeez, bed head much? I need a shower._ She brushed her white hair back, then put on a pink, silk bathrobe. She walked down the hall and peered in on Brie, who was wiggling around in her crib.

"C'mon baby girl, lets get you some milk."

She grabbed her baby, then went into the kitchen and was about to sit her down to grab some milk when she heard the door fly open. She turned and shielded her baby, expecting the worse, only to find her husband, bruised and bloody. His leather jacket was torn, as were his gloves. His eyes were heavy, he looked like he was going to pass out.

"BABE! What the hell? Are you okay?"

Shadow opened his mouth to respond, but was too weak. He collapsed onto the tile floor, leaving a pool of blood around him. Rouge, in total panic mode, ran and out Brie back in her crib, then ran back to shadow with a towel.

"Baby, wake up, let me clean you up."

No response, she rolled him over to survey the damage. He had a cut across his stomach, and was bleeding from his lip.

"This looks like Omega's doing." Rouge said, cleaning up the wound on his stomach.

Shadow awoke feeling the pressure against the wound.

"Fuck Rouge, be careful." he winced in pain.

"Sorry Shady, I don't want it getting infected." She glanced into his red eyes, he didn't have to say a word, she read him like a book. He was scared, which made her scared, because he was _never_ scared.

He responded with a simple nod, leaning back and letting her do her magic.

"So, wanna tell me who's responsible for making you look like shit?" she said with concern, rubbing a hand across his head.

"Heh, look like shit huh? You should see the other guys." He said with a smirk. "Omega, Silver, and Blaze."

"Blaze? She's even after you? Jesus, I hope this doesn't hurt our friendship after this."

"She won't be around for awhile, unless she's crazy." he responded.

"You know she is." Rouge let out a chuckle as she finished cleaning the wound. "Let's get you a shower."

"No shower, wake Sebastian and get Brie, we're leaving. It's no longer safe here." Shadow said, grabbing his red chaos emerald off the table. "Nice robe by the way."

She blushed a little "Awe babe, compliment me later, let's get this figured out now."

With a nod, Shadow went to pack the bags while Rouge got the kids ready.

After a few minutes, Shadow returned with bags full of clothes, while Rouge returned with Brie in her arms and Sebastian by her side.

"Dad, where are we going?" Sebastian asked as he walked over to help his dad carry the bags.

"You'll see when we get there, we gotta be careful now Sebastian. Go grab your coat and we can leave."

He left and returned a moment later, wearing his black hoodie along with his red shorts.

The family all looked at each other with nods, then they all grabbed hands. Everyone was linked, and with Shadow's free hand, he caused chaos control. Everything went white, but something was wrong. Everything stayed white, then it went pitch black dark.

"Sebastian, Rouge?" Shadow called out.

"Shadow, how come everyone you've ever been close to ends up dead?" a _very_ familiar voice called to him.

"Maria?" Shadow tried to look around for her, but it was pitch black.

"Shadow, don't you regret it?" another familiar voice appeared.

"Eggman? Am I… dead?" Shadow was shaken up, his words were struggling to leave his lips.

"You're just a murderer to them, Earth never loved you Shadow." This time it was knuckles speaking.

"You should've joined us Shadow." Black Doom, his voice sent chills down Shadows spine.

"You're a failed experiment Shadow." Gerald Robotnik, Shadow's creator joined in.

"ENOUGH!" Shadow screamed, now on his knees. The darkness lit up, and he could now see his fallen friends/rivals surrounding him.

"We all died by your hand or because of you Shadow, you're evil, you're a piece of shit." They all said in unison. Shadow was used to hearing such harsh things, but coming from Maria… he was broken.

Everything went dark again, then he flashed out of chaos control. He looked around, he was alone. "What the…" He looked around, tears dropping off his cheeks.

"Why am I back here?"

 _Cliffhanger! Hope you guys enjoyed chapter 2, got a little action and a bit on internal conflict going on with Shadow. I'm very excited for this story, I think you guys will enjoy the next chapter, without spoiling anything, you can expect a major twist. Can ya guess where he landed? Stick around, CH3 will be out within the next few days. Reviews are welcome, thanks for reading and see ya soon!_


	3. Chapter 3 - Paradox

_**Hey guys, it's been a few days since I updated, so I hope this is worth the wait! More coming later in the week, probably aiming for Friday, so stay tuned!**_

"Jesus what the fuck is happening?" Shadow said to himself, rubbing his head as he glanced around. The air in the room was cold, with zero noise except sounds coming from Shadow. He stood up and opened the door to the room he was in.

 _Just as I thought… I'm back on the ARK. Why? And where's Rouge, Brie, and Sebastian? I need to have a look around…_

He walked down the long, cold hallway. So many memories here, yet one kept coming to mind.

 _ **Shadow.**_

He shrugged it off, walking towards Gerald Robotnik's old lab.

 _ **You were created to help the people of Earth, yet all you ever wanted to do was protect me Shadow, you're a failure.**_

Maria's voice kept echoing throughout his head. He had a killer headache, and once he opened the door to the lab it grew worse, as he was met with a blinding light. When the light died down he was floating outside the ARK, next to him was Maria.

"Maria..? What the fuck is going on?" He asked bluntly.

" _ **You were created to help the people of Earth, yet all you ever wanted to do was protect me Shadow, yet you let me die. You're a failure.**_ "

"Stop saying that… I tried." his tone went from blunt to a more saddened tone.

" _ **Look at you, the "Ultimate Lifeform" crying over me… you're so weak, so pathetic."**_

"Where's the sweet girl I used to know?" Shadow grabbed her hand and forced her to look at him. His eyes showed something _very_ rare, they showed weakness. One of the only people he ever truly loved… truly cared for, was shitting on him.

" _ **That sweet girl DIED on the ARK because of you. She's gone because of you!**_ "

A tear floated off his cheek, he was broken in more ways than he thought imaginable. It took a minute for him to realize what was happening, chaos control took him back in time, and the reason Rouge and his kids weren't with him was because they weren't alive yet. He was reliving a moment in his life, it wouldn't take long to figure out what moment it was.

" _ **Look at that Shadow, it's us, so, so many years ago…**_ "

"Maria… why is this happening? Is this hell? Am I relieving every fucked up thing that happened in my life?" Shadow cried out, he would be to his knees, but since they were still floating he couldn't do much of anything.

" _ **Pay attention hedgehog, this is the best part!**_ "

It was actually the worst part, the part where Maria was shot.

"Fuck… Maria… I-.. I'm so sorry." he grabbed her hands again, locking eyes with the very different Maria from what he remembered.

" _ **You're sorry? OH that makes everything fucking rainbows and unicorns Shadow, YOU KILLED ME SHADOW, never forget this day.**_ "

Just then, the light returned, and Shadow felt the air return. He was back in normal time, holding Rouge and his kids.

He gave them a bewildered look, then ran over and hugged them, tears flowing like a river down his face.

"Shady, wha- what's this all about?" Rouge said in a shocked tone. _My man never acts like this, somethings wrong…_

Shadow backed off and glared at his family for a moment before he found the words to speak. "I love you… all of you, so much." he spoke with a broken voice, Sebastian and Rouge just sat stunned as the ebony hedgehog showed a side he rarely showed, sure he was loving, but he rarely, if at all, cried.

"Shadow babe, talk to me." Rouge grabbed him and walked him over to a bench. Shadow hadn't even realized it, but they were on a boat of some sort.

"Sebastian, hold your sister and go sit down by the pool for a moment, I'll come get you after me and daddy talk."

With a nod, the smaller hedgehog grabbed his sister and walked down the staircase to the pool.

"Babe… I thought you were dead. All of you, I went back in time, before you all were even born, I was on the ARK and -" he was cut off by his wife.

"Babe, slow down, time travel? The ARK? We only traveled long enough for someone to blink."

Shadow froze and met Rouges emerald eyes, they glowed with concern. "Wait… you weren't frozen in time? You weren't here waiting for me?"

"No babe, once you caused chaos control, we appeared here immediately after with you, maybe we were frozen and just didn't know it." She wiped the tears off his face and rubbed her fingers on his chin. He slowly calmed down.

"Well… let's talk about it later, okay? I need to do some thinking." he stood up to walk off, but Rouge grabbed his hand and held him in place.

"Shadow, why the hell are we on a boat?"

Shadow snapped out of his train of thought and looked around, this wasn't a boat, it was practically a yacht. It was huge, maybe a cruise line?

"I don't know… I don't even remember what I was thinking about when I caused chaos control besides getting us somewhere safe. Let me go ask around and then I'll come back for you guys, go get Sebastian and Brie, stay together and I'll be back. He placed a kiss on her cheek quickly, then ran off. After a few seconds he realized what boat they were actually on, this was actually his boat he and Rouge had stole back when they first met, Rouge got Shadow involved in a robbery and they needed a place to lay low, so they stole the boat.

He shook his head in disbelief as he was so distracted that he didn't realize where they were. He walked back to his family with a smirk on his face.

"Well Rouge, it's our boat. We stole this boat after our first… job together." He didn't wanna say robbery, he didn't want Sebastian to know everything this early in his life, they were trying to keep his head straight.

Rouge's eyes went from shocked to calm. "Oh yeah? So many memories on here…" She said in a seductive tone.

He responded by giving her a _not in front of the kids_ kind of look . She simply laughed and took Brie from Sebastian. "I'll set up a room for our little girl, go show Sebastian where he can stay."

After some walking, Shadow and Sebastian arrived at a doorway. "You can have any room on this hallway you want son."

Sebastian's face lit up with excitement. He ran from room to room examining them. After a few minutes, he returned to his dad with his choice. "I want that one daddy." Of course, it was the biggest room on the hall.

Shadow couldn't help but smile, "All yours buddy." he patted his son on the back and let him go unpack. He poked his head in the doorway before going to find Rouge and Brie.

"Sebastian, later I'll chaos control us somewhere to get you some toys and stuff for your room." Again, his sons face lit up.

"Dad, you're the best!" he said with a huge smile.

Shadow nodded and left, walking down the hallway and up the stairs to find Rouge. He had a pretty good idea of where to find her, and his assumption was right. She was in the room they stayed in when the two originally stayed on the boat.

"Somehow I knew I'd find you in here." he said to her as he jumped into bed next to her. She greeted him with a warm smile and embrace.

"It wouldn't be right anywhere else babe, this is our room ya know." she said placing a kiss on his neck.

"Of course I know, how could I forget?"

*Flashback to the robbery/boat*

Rouge unlocked the door to her apartment above Club Rouge, only to find nothing had changed since she left. Shadow was still laid out on the couch, watching TV. She placed down the food she brought back on the counter and flew over to the couch, landing next to Shadow.

"Sit up for a minute Shady, I got an idea." as he sat up, she sat down, placing her arm around his neck.

"What's with you?" he said in a harsh tone.

"I wanna do something fun, let me take you out!" she removed her arm from around his neck and placed a hand on his leg.

"Don't you date knuckles?" he responded with that same harsh tone.

"Not like that Shadow, I meant take you out on a mission!" she chuckled as he began to blush.

 _How could I be so stupid to think that's what she meant?_

"Oh… of course. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, since you're the ultimate lifeform, and I'm the ultimate thief, what happens when we team up?" She said with a upbeat tone.

"We can't be stopped, we're unstoppable together." A smile snuck onto Shadow's face, liking where this was going.

"Exactly, so, let's rob a place a sane person would consider impossible!"

Shadow sat for a moment, thinking what she could possibly be talking about. Then it hit him like a brick wall.

"Oh you're nuts!" He said, coming back to reality of how hard this would be."

"Oh come on Shad, one job and we're set for life!" She placed a hand on his shoulder, he shrugged it off but she was persistent, placing it right back on his shoulder.

"Fine, we'll rob the gold depository." He said, exhaling with a tone of defeat trailing his words.

After days of prep and scouting, they decided it was time to hit the depository. Everything went according to plan, well, almost. Shadow went straight through the front door, he was on crowd control, on top of being a distracting for the cops. Meanwhile, Rouge entered through a vent, not having to worry about tripping an alarm since Shadow had set them all off. She reached the vault and cracked it after minutes of testing combinations, while Shadow was fighting off waves of cops.  
"Rouge, can you hurry it the hell up down there? There's a shitload of cops up here, they really like their gold." She could hear the blasts and gunshots going off in the background as he spoke.

"Don't worry hun, I got as much as I can carry, I'm on the way out, meet me at the designated location, Rouge out."

Rouge slid out, no problem. _Almost_ no problem.

Shadow on the other hand kept fighting off wave and wave of police. Eventually, they backed off to regroup and he too the moment to chaos control out of the bank. When he arrived at the location, Rouge was nowhere to be found.

"Rouge, come in Rouge." He spoke into his earpiece.

Nothing but radio silence.

 _Shit, something's wrong._

He knew the route she planned out and started to back track, eventually coming across an alleyway. A trail of blood led behind a dumpster. Shadow's heart jumped out of his chest.

 _Rouge you better not be fucking dead…_

He jumped off the roof and darted towards the dumpster, once he arrived he moved the dumpster out of the way, revealing a wounded Rouge. She was still wearing most of her heist clothing, she had taken off her black hoodie, revealing a gunshot wound to her arm. She slid her mask off when she realized it was Shadow who had found her.

"Fuck you scared me Shady, can ya help a girl out?" She said trying to smile.

"Scared you? I thought you fucking died." He said kneeling down and examining her wound. "Damn, it's still in there. I'll have to get you out of here before I can help with that."

"Shadow, we can't go back to our apartment, when we get out of here we really need to lie low for a bit… let's… let's steal a boat."

He picked her up and cradled her, locking eyes with her and giving her a nod of approval. She returned a sad look.

"Shadow, I lost most of the gold… please don't hate me."

"Hate you? Fuck the gold, I only care about you, now hang on… Chaos Control."

When the bright light died down, they found themselves on the docks. He sat her down against a post.

"Once I find a suitable boat, I'll be back for you… don't bleed out, keep pressure on it." before she could even respond, he was gone.

She sat there holding her arm in pain. _Jeez you really fucked this one up didn't ya? I bet Shadow's gonna let me hear it when he fixes me up… if he fixes me up…_

She was struck with fear, she glanced down and saw the pool of blood that had formed around her. She slid off her combat boot and took off her sock, using it to wrap up the wound tightly.

"This'll have to do…"

In a flash, Shadow had appeared back in front of her, he had used chaos control again. Without speaking a word, he picked her up and caused chaos control for a fourth time that night. Once the light died down again, she found herself in his arms still, this time in a room on a boat. He laid her down on the bed, he was visibly fatigued. Rouge knew he was working himself too hard. She was about to tell him to slow down, but he had already turned around and caused chaos control again!

 _Shadow… he's gonna fucking kill himself._

After a moment, he returned yet again in a flash, this time he had a tiny bag with him, he stood for a moment catching his balance, then he opened the bag. He took out a needle and thread, pliers, rubbing alcohol, and some whiskey.

"Shadow slow the hell down" Rouge tried to place her hand on his chest to stop him, but he already sat down next to her and forced her down on her back.

"Please Rouge, be quiet… I gotta focus." he handed her the bottle of whiskey.

"Drink, it'll help with the pain you're about to feel." he said as he rubbed alcohol against the wound to clean it, he then grabbed the pliers and and removed the sock from her arm. Just before he began to take the bullet out, she took a few large gulps of the whiskey.

 _Fuck this is gonna hurt_.

Indeed it did, she let out a loud scream as he took the bullet out. He wiped down the wound again then began stitching her up as quickly and as cleanly as possible.

"Shadow… thank you." she said between breaths.

He didn't respond, he wanted to but he knew he couldn't maintain consciousness for much longer.

He finished up and removed his shirt, using it to wrap up her arm.

Rouge was thankful, but she was distracted by his ripped figure.

"Shadow lay down, you don't look so good…"

Thump! Shadow collapsed as she sat up trying to catch him.

 _Damn he's gonna be grumpy when he wakes up…_ she thought to herself as she laid him in bed next to her. After a few hours of rest and worry, Shadow finally opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was Rouge laying on his chest. He was taken back and wanted to shake her off, then he realized he almost lost her. Instead of shrugging her off, he simply called out to see if she was awake.

"Rouge?"

Her ears perked up at his dull, deep voice. She rolled over and met his tired crimson eyes.

"Well well well, my hero finally wakes up!" she tucked her head into his chest, and he didn't stop her.

"Are you okay? How's the arm?" he studied her eyes, full of joy, while she studied his, full of worry.

"I'm great Shady! Don't look so worried, you took care of me surprisingly well for someone that was abusing chaos control." she replied with a chuckle.

"Abuse? No, it was necessary, I wasn't gonna lose you."

She blushed at his words, still lost in his eyes, she leaned in and met his lips. He pulled back at first, then he gave in to the temptation. He had wanted it for so long, but she was dating Knuckles.

After the two had their moment, they pulled away, eyes still locked. It took everything in Shadow's power not to pounce her right then and there, and little did he know, she was having the same conflict.

"Well that was something." She said with a deep blush.

Shadow, smiling bigger than she had ever seen, responded in a sarcastic tone. "Well, we're gonna be together for the next few days while the heat dies down, _get used to it_."

Though it sounded as if he was joking, Rouge was fine with it, she wanted it, and eventually she would get what she wanted!

*Current day*

"You know babe, I thought you were gonna die… it's pretty funny it took all that for you to realize that Knuckles was a piece of shit."

"I know Shady, play nice! He's a total dick, but still, be thankful we ended up together in the end." she met him with a deep and passionate kiss, then cuddled up into him. The two talked back and forth throughout the night, reminiscing on their relationship.

Meanwhile…

Blaze was standing at the docks, watching the boat off in the distance. She wore a black bulletproof vest, a green shirt underneath, blue jeans and the same combat boots as before. Alongside her was a new companion, Sonic. He wore a blue t-shirt and black combat jeans, along with his usual red and white sneakers.

"Think that's them?" Sonic asked, glancing over at his new partner.

"Positive, Rouge told me about it awhile back. Let's give them a day or two… then hit them when their guard is down." Blaze respond, still staring off at the ship.

The two stared off again, Sonic in thought of what Blazes intentions were, while Blaze was thinking if she would actually have to kill Shadow.

 _You got one more chance Shad, then the claws come out…_

 _OOOO, expect a fight… no, a_ _ **battle**_ _in the next chapter! The real questions here, will Sonic actually be more help or cause more trouble for Blaze, and where's Silver and Omega? Don't worry, all will be answered in time, this chapter was the longest yet, and I haven't started chapter 4 yet, but I got a feeling it may be even longer than this, so hang in there, updates coming soon! Feel free to review, and I'll catch you guys later this week with CH4._


	4. Chapter 4 - more bloodshed

_Ch 4 - More bloodshed._

It was late into the morning before they realized they had stayed up all night talking. Shadow found himself nowhere close to falling asleep, while Rouge found herself falling asleep.

"Rest babe, I'll check on the kids." Shadow whispered to her, she nodded slowly and rolled over to let herself fall asleep. Out of all the things they talked about last night, Shadow never brought up the weird thing that happened during chaos control. Maria's words had been haunting him, he couldn't sleep if he wanted to. Everytime he closed his eyes, he relieved what happened. Snapping out of his thoughts, he walked across the hall and peeked in on Brie. The baby bat was sound asleep, looking happy as ever. _I wish I could give her a better life, she's so young, she doesn't deserve to be on the run._ He walked over and quietly placed a kiss on his daughter's head, then crept back out of the room and went downstairs to find Sebastian. He found sebastian laid out in bed, curled up in a ball. _I hope I do right by him… I need him to be better than me._ Shadow knew there would come a time where Sebastian would fully embrace his inner darkside, or shut it out forever. He hoped he would shut it out, but only time would tell. He decided it would be best to go sit outside and get some fresh air, he walked out and jumped from deck to deck until he found himself on top of the boat.

It was a cloudy day, the air was chilly as the blue waves of the ocean crashed against the boat. There was a light rain falling from the sky. He pulled his phone from his jacket and saw he had 3 new messages, two were just random, wrong number texts. The third on the other hand was different. The message that caught his attention was from an unknown number, it read "Shadow, this has gone on long enough, you're only gonna put your family in danger, please turn yourself in, if need be, I'll stop you myself… -Sonic"

 _What a asshole, now he's getting involved? Surprised Amy is okay with this… unless Amy is after me too. I wonder if there is anyone that doesn't want me dead. Sally hasn't been seen in a while, she's probably off defending her kingdom, other than that, everyone is either against me or dead…_

Deep down Shadow was kinda disappointed Sonic was getting involved, over the years he had learned to tolerate his blue companion, but everyone is saying he crossed the line when he killed Knuckles. _No matter, anyone who gets in the way of me and my family will fall all the same._ The sound of footsteps brought him out of his thoughts. He turned back expecting to see Rouge, only to be met with the yellow eyes of a purple cat, she wore a long yellow coat with black jeans and yellow shoes to match her eyes. Before he could even jump up, she was sitting next to him.

"How'd you find me?"

"We traced your phone Shadow, rookie mistake."

"I didn't come to fight, not yet anyway." Blaze said calmly.

He didn't trust her, but there was no need in picking a fight when she seemed so chill.

"What is it you want now cat, didn't you learn your lesson already?" Shadows crimson eyes shot through her like hollow-points.

"Shadow, take a chill pill, I'm here to offer you one last chance."

"For fuck sake Blaze, you don't get it do you? I'm not giving up, I have a family to take care of, get in my way again and I promise I won't let you walk away this time!" he was now standing, gripping his red chaos emerald.

"Fine, have it your way." She rolled back and got into a fighting stance.

"Have it your way, cat, it's your funeral. Chaos control!"

In the blink of an eye, Shadow appeared behind Blaze and hit her with a swift kick. He quickly took advantage after knocking her over by getting on top of her and holding her down as he began to hit her repeatedly. Blew flew as Blaze took hit after hit, she wasn't even trying to fight back. _Something's off…_

As if on cue, Shadow felt himself get hit in the stomach, the wind leaving his body quickly. He glanced up and met two hedgehogs, a white and blue hedgehog.

"Silver, Sonic? You two have some sort of deathwish?" Shadow spat out trying to catch his breath.

"Turn yourself in pal before this gets ugly!" Sonic held out his hand for Shadow to grab, but it was knocked away by a rose colored hedgehog.

"Don't help him babe, he brought this upon himself."

"Heh, 4 on 1, that's the best you can do?" Shadow stood with a smirk. "I'm gonna enjoy this."

With that, Shadow quickly threw a chaos spear at Silver, but Silver dodged it, leaving the spear to hit Amy, knocking her off the top deck.

"AMY!" Sonic screamed and dashed off to find her.

 _Well that's one way to even the odds._

Blaze shot flames towards Shadow, but Shadow kept using chaos control to his advantage, dodging and forcing Blaze to rethink her strategy. Silver on the other hand was going toe to toe with Shadow, Silver didn't have the strength, but his powers made up where he lacked in strength. Shadow actually found himself in a losing battle when Sonic returned, steaming mad from Shadow hurting Amy.

"You coulda killed her you bastard!"

"You're the idiot for not separating your love life from your work life, faker!"

As the fight went on, Shadow took more and more damage, when suddenly he felt a strong source of chaos energy. The X-Tornado flew over, distracting Silver for a slight second, just long enough for Shadow to throw another chaos spear, also knocking him off the top deck.

"Blaze, go be with Silver, me and Shadow are gonna settle this once and for all." Sonic snarled as Tails landed the Tornado in the water.

"Sonic, come in, the chaos emeralds are glowing… be careful, Shadow may sense the energy and try to go Super Shadow!" tails called out over the radio. Sonic heard him but couldn't respond, Shadow was also building up with anger, as soon as he knocked one down another person would show up and challenge him. He chaos controlled over to the Tornado, finding Tails putting Amy and Silver in the medbay to help heal them from the chaos spears they received, but he wasn't there for Tails, Silver, or anyone else for that matter.

 _I call upon the power of the 7 chaos emeralds, give me the strength I need to protect my family and finish this once and for all!"_

The emeralds began to glow, Shadow felt the energy coursing through his veins, it was almost time for Super Shadow. Once Shadow opened his eyes, he saw Sonic in front of him, also in his super form.

"Guess this just got that more interesting" they heard Tails call out.

"Enough faker, I've dealt with you for far too long, chaos spear!"

Sonic dodged it, and used the opening to dash at his glowing rival. He connected with a swift kick, then began landing combos on Shadows stomach before the combos were abruptly stopped by Shadow grabbing Sonic's fists and twisting them. He then placed a precise kick to the temple to weaken Shadow, but Shadow merely laughed it off.

"Oh Sonic, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into." Shadow called out, standing his ground.

A sudden burst of fire hit Shadow in the back, he turned to find Blaze and Sonic working him into a pickle. He went to throw a chaos spear but felt his body freeze, he realized Silver was using his power to hold him in place.

"Finish him off guys!" Silver called out to his teammates.

Without hesitation, Sonic began to spindash the frozen hedgehog over and over again, while Blaze used her flame attacks to weaken him. While all this was going on, Rouge had turned the boat towards the nearest island so they wouldn't sink everyone on the boat, her timing was impeccable, as soon as they made landfall Shadow had decided enough was enough. Silver and Blaze used a tag team attack where she threw a fireball and he used his powers to speed it up, leaving Shadow to be hit directly, knocking him off the boat and onto the island. All that was left where he landed was a thick cloud of smoke.

"Shit Blaze, you think he survived that?" Sonic called out as him, Silver, Blaze and Amy hopped off the boat and onto the island. Rouge had hid Sebastian and made him hold Brie, she was looking for an opening to help Shadow.

"If he survived Sonic, he'll regret that he lived." Blaze replied, trying to see through the thick cloud.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA"

The four looked at each other… the cloud was still thick, but a pair of glowing red eyes could be seen in the smoke settle, the four could now see it wasn't Shadow's normal eyes, his entire appearance had changed. He glew a bright white, his eyes glowing red. He was in his hyper form.

"Shit… that's not good." Sonic called out, pushing Amy, Blaze, and Silver out of the way. Shadow jumped up and grabbed Sonic by his throat.

"You have no fucking idea how long I've wanted to do this, you threaten my family by attacking me on the boat? You're all fucked." he squeezed his neck harder, and what happened next was something nobody expected.

Amy had reappeared holding Rouge, who was bleeding profusely. Shadow immediately dropped Sonic and dashed over to Rouge and Amy.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO AMY?"

The pink hedgehog dropped Rouge onto the ground in front of him.

"You were told to give up, or else your family would suffer. I live up to my-"

Shadow grabbed her and snapped her neck before she could finish her sentence. He then turned to Sonic who was on the ground trying to crawl away.

"Not so fast, you die today too." He pulled Sonic up and held him against a tree. The emotions going through his head, Rouge was beat to a pulp, he killed Amy and he still had to deal with Silver and Blaze. Sonic wouldn't be a problem much longer…

"CHAOS BLAST"

He caused it while holding Sonic, once the red blast and smoke cleared, nothing but dust was left where the hedgehog once was.

His attention then turned to Rouge, she wasn't moving.

He kneeled down and held her head up.

"Babe, speak to me! You can't leave me now!"

"Sha- Shadow… I'm so sorry…"

"Fuck Rouge don't talk like that… please!"

The bat was fading in and out of consciousness, he knew she was dying.

"Rouge… please don't go." a tear rolled down the now ebony hedgehogs face, he was no long feeling so super or hyper. The bat didn't respond, her breathing began to slow until it came to a complete stop. Shadow buried his head in his wife's shoulder.

"Dammit… why did it have to end like this?" Shadow glanced up and noticed Silver and Blaze had escaped once again.

There was a long silence as Shadow sat there, rubbing his wife's hand. Shadow had only been heartbroken once, when Maria had died, but this… this was a new level of pain. Shadow found himself not wanting to live anymore, then his mind realized the severity of the situation, not only did he lose his wife, but his kids just lost their mom.

"Jesus… I should've gave up Rouge… I'm- I'm sorry…"

He held her hand a moment longer before letting go and deciding to bury her on the island.

A few hours later

"What do you mean mom's gone?" Sebastian cried out, holding his dad tightly.

"I know buddy… I know…"

"Dad… I'm gonna kill them… all of them" he pulled away from Shadow, fists now balled up.

"Slow down, you're not doing anything. You're gonna go away for awhile, you and Brie both."

Sebastian broke down into tears again "GO AWAY? WHERE?"

Shadow tried to comfort his son again, but Sebastian threw him off.

"You and Brie are gonna stay with a friend of mine and Rouge's… her names Sally… she's a princess.

"Dad, I wanna stay with you, I wanna fight, I want _revenge!"_

Shadow knew this event would change his son, he could see the look in his crimson eyes, the same look he used to have so many years ago after Maria died, his son was turning into him… and he couldn't prevent it any longer.

"Go get Brie, we're leaving. I need to make a call."

Sebastian hesitantly walked away, while Shadow dialed Sally.

"Shadow, where the hell have you guys been? I know you're wanted but we haven't talked in months, how's the kids, how's Rouge, how're you?"

"Sally, slow down. I need that favor you owe me."

"You got it, where do you wanna meet up?"

"Meet me at my safehouse downtown. Bring a big car."

"You got it Shad, see you in a few hours."

With that, Shadow gathered Sebastian and Brie, said goodbye to Rouge one last time, then chaos controlled to his final safehouse. He wasn't showing it, but he was truly dead inside. He loved his kids, but Rouge was his first love, really his only love, and in the blink of an eye she was gone.

 _I'll make them pay Rouge… all of them._

Later that night, Sally arrived at the safehouse where Shadow was in a panic. Sally entered and saw his face, and saw Sebastian crying.

"Shadow what the hell's going on, where's Rouge?" Sally ran over and wrapped her arms around Sebastian, then glanced over at Shadow.

"THOSE BASTARDS, THEY KILLED MY WIFE AND POISONED MY DAUGHTER? I'M FUCKING PUTTING THEIR HEADS ON SPIKES."

Sally looked on in horror "Sebastian go to your room." He ran off in tears. "Shadow, sit, let me help. Where is Brie?"

"She's… she's gone… Sally, I lost Rouge and Brie within 12 hours. What the fuck am I gonna do?" he leaned onto her shoulder, she felt his tears on her fur.

"Shady, listen. Let me take Sebastian and you go take care of business, okay?"

"Please Sally, that's all I need."

She hugged her longtime friend, then stood and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Of course, I'm really sorry about Rouge and Brie Shadow, I can't believe they went that far."

He glanced up at her before looking away in pain.

"It was Amy, she did it all… but Blaze and Silver were there, they didn't stop it, so they'll pay too. I'm gonna send them straight to hell dammit." he slammed his fist into the coffee table and snapped it in half.

Sebastian walked back in with his bag in hand.

Shadow and Sally both stood, Sally walked over and grabbed Sebastians hand.

"Dad, will I ever see you again?"

His words pierced Shadow's heart harder than he imagined. _No, you probably won't._ Is what he wanted to say.

"Of course buddy… in a couple weeks. Don't worry about me, okay?"

Sebastian didn't seem to believe him, but nodded and hugged his dad before Sally packed him and his things into the car.

Shadow watched as the car drove off towards the Acorn Kingdom, then turned around and walked back into the house. He sat on the couch for a moment before breaking down into tears.

"Fuck… I haven't had time to mourn my fucking wife and now my daughter is gone too?" he buried his face into his hands, part of him wanted to close his eyes and never wake up, while the other half of him wanted to watch the world burn. He eventually lied back on the couch and cried himself to sleep.

Meanwhile, outside the safehouse, Silver and Blaze were peering into the window, watching him cry himself to sleep.

"Amy went too far, you know if we pick this fight we have to kill him, or else we're dead." Silver said to his companion.

"I'm aware, we need to finish this once and for all though."

"Not yet, Blaze he just lost everything… take it easy."

"SILVER, that's the damn point, he lost everything, he's gonna fucking snap and kill anyone in his path, innocent or not!"

Silver didn't want to admit it, but she had a point.

"When do we attack?"

She grinned a slight bit before responding.

"In a few minutes, go prepare yourself."

 _Wow, what a turn of events, poor Shadow hasn't had time to even comprehend what's going on, and he's about to have to fight again. Will Blaze's quick decision to attack while he's emotional backfire, or will it pay of in the best way imaginable? Stay tuned, next chapter will be an interesting one :)_


	5. Chapter 5- Finale and Epilogue

Ch5 - All good things must come to an end.

Quick note, this chapter will be in Shadows POV, enjoy :)

I found myself slipping off to sleep between sobs, when i heard talking coming from outside the window. "In a few minutes, go prepare yourself." I recognized the voice, it belonged to Blaze. I couldn't believe they were back already, I just hoped that Sally and Sebastian would be alright. It was only us three left now, me, Blaze and Silver. Two against one, and the odds are always in my favor. I stood from the couch and walked to the bedroom, I hadn't stayed in this safehouse since… well, since me and Rouge had to after a mission. I can't believe she's actually gone… Rouge, why'd it have to go like this? Why couldn't we figure it out… why couldn't I figure it out.

I snapped from my thoughts and remembered the situation I was in, I quickly grabbed my chaos emerald from my bag then walked into the closet. Most of the clothes had dust on them, but I wasn't there for the clothes, I reached to the top shelf and pulled down a tripwire. Wanna come at me on my turf? So be it, it'll be your last mistake. As I walked out of the closet I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, now wasn't time for looking good, but I looked like complete shit. The last 24 hours didn't feel real, Rouge, Brie, gone within hours of each other. I only hoped Sebastian wouldn't share their fate. I crept towards the hallway and set a tripwire, then I connected the tripwire to a shock net that would land on whoever tripped it and trap them in an electromagnetic field. It wasn't much, but as long as it could capture Blaze or Silver, then I could take them down one by one. As I found myself waiting in a dark corner on the impending attack, my mind was clouded with everything going on, I kept hearing Rouges voice in my head.

Shadow, if anything ever happens to me, promise me you won't lose yourself. You're a good man Shadow, don't let death cloud your judgement.

Hey Shadow, maybe when this is all said and done, and the kids grow up and move out, we can live on this island together.

I winced, it wasn't long ago we were planning our retirement from all this together, and now she's gone. Poor Brie too, she didn't even get a chance to live her life, her cries kept filling my head, that goofy little smile she did after I'd cradle her, and that shirt Rouge bought her… Daddy's girl. She didn't even get a chance, I didn't give her a chance. I found myself living the entirety of the moment in regret, then I realized how lost I actually was. Stop thinking like that, focus before you let your guard down, never let your emotions take control. I tried to calm myself, but I was a little too late. A window was broken and a flash bang was thrown through, leaving the air echoing as I heard two sets of feet hit the floor and start creeping around.

"Silver… you take the bedroom,I'll head down the hall and check the other room." I heard Blaze whisper, then I heard them split up. Too easy. So I thought at least. I heard the footsteps of Blaze grow closer, then I heard the flick of the tripwire and the thud of the cat hitting the floor.

"SILVERRRR" she screamed out. I took this moment to chaos control to the other room, as I opened my eyes, Silver had just turned his back to run out the room. I kicked him in the back, throwing him through the wall and into the kitchen.

"You got some fucking nerve you two. Killing my wife? My daughter? She was a baby for christ sake. You took it out on them because you couldn't do your job?!" I screamed at Silver, then glanced to see Blaze struggling in the net, being shocked here and there.

"It's funny Shadow, you're the reason their dead, and you're pinning the blame on us when you could've avoided it all by turning yourself in." Silver said as he spit out blood. "You were too scared of your pride getting hurt, you put your family on the line and they paid the price."

His words cut deep, I didn't wanna believe it, but part of it felt true. Snap out of it, he's trying to make you let your guard down.

Silver was now standing in front of me in a fighting stance, he grabbed a vase and threw it towards me, but I quickly dodged it, I responded with a chaos spear, but he used his powers to freeze my attack in mid air, he quickly rolled behind the counter and used his powers to lift the net off Blaze. She was too weak from the shocking to even move, but she was now free.

I noticed what was happening and stopped it before it could start, I lunged myself over the counter and jumped on Silver, placing my hands around his throat. I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my stomach, it was so sharp it made me let go and fall over. I glanced down at my stomach and saw a knife stuck into it. Silver pulled it out and tried to stab me again, but I quickly kicked it away. I landed a kick to the side of his head, making his head bounce off the counter and leaving him unconscious. I felt the warm blood rolling down my stomach, I slowly rose and grabbed a knife from the counter, then placed myself on top of Silver. I glanced around and noticed Blaze had began to crawl away.

"You're next cat, you're not leaving here alive." I called out as I placed the knife on Silvers neck. Rookie mistake, I took my eyes of my target and I paid for it. Silver had woken up and turned the knife against me, stabbing me again in the stomach, just a few inches away from before. I fell over again, I felt my eyes roll for a second, I felt like I was gonna pass out. Then I heard her voice…

Come on Shadow! Fight! Don't give up, do it for Sebastian!

Routes voice echoed through my head. I took my remaining strength and pulled the knife from my stomach, slamming it deep into Silvers neck. As he fell over beneath me, he muttered.

"You may kill me Shadow, but you're not leaving here alive either."

He reached for the knife he stabbed me with the first time, this time stabbing me through the hand as I tried to stop it. I saw him begin to fade, and I wondered if I would suffer the same fate. I glanced down at the pool of blood. It wasn't all mine, but I was sure it was at least half from me. I rolled off the dead hedgehog and placed myself against the counter. My energy was non existent, everytime I breathed I could feel my insides burning.

Well Silver, maybe you're gonna be the one that did the impossible.. maybe you'll end the ultimate life form.

I tried to pick myself up when I sat back in sharp pain, the knife still stuck in my hand wasn't helping. I suddenly heard footsteps, I had forgotten all about Blaze.

"Well Shadow, all good things must come to an end. You're not going to live the rest of your days in a cell, you're done. Think of all the damage you caused, you killed Knuckles, Amy, Sonic, and now Silver. You've ruined so many lives, you could've just turned yourself in Shadow." she placed her hand on the knife and jerked it out. I winced again, I could feel my heart pounding inside my head. It was so loud, I felt like i was going crazy.

"Knuckles… he… he had it coming Blaze. The others chose the wrong side in a losing battle." I grabbed her and pulled her down next to me. "Promise me something."

She was startled by my words. "I'm listening."

"When I die… I'm gonna save you a spot in hell… and I want you to take it." I grabbed the knife she took from me and slammed it into her stomach, she quickly responded by shooting a fireball into my stomach. I felt everything go dark, then a bright light hit my eyes.

"Welcome back babe."

"Rouge? Where are we?" I stood from the ground, everything was pitch white.

"You're… well, you're dead love." She placed her hand on my shoulder, then pulled me into a hug.

"Dead? Did Blaze die too?"

She simply shrugged in return. "She's not here, I assume if she's dying she hasn't kicked the bucket yet."

I glanced into the eyes of my wife, he emerald eyes studied me, this felt real, too real.

"So I died…"

"Yeah, once I got here, I had a lot of thinking to do for this moment when we'd meet again. I got some things I wanna show you."

"Wait, this isn't some type of dream is it?? This is for real?"

"Yes Shady, it's real." she placed a hand on her hip, studying me yet again.

"What're you looking me up and down so hard for?" I asked somewhat harshly, yet she didn't seem fazed in the slightest.

"I'm not used to seeing you filled with holes. I'm surprised you lost to Blaze of all the people you faced."

I glanced around for a moment, then it hit me, if I were really dead, where was Brie?

"Rouge, where's our daughter?" I grabbed her hand and forced her to look into my eyes.

"Babe, follow me and I'll show you."

I followed her without any hesitation, she led me to a doorway.

"Prepare your eyes, the change of scenery can miss with your head."

She opened the door and everything went dark, after a few seconds I felt sand on my feet. We were back in our island estate. Brie was being held by Rouges mother, who had passed away years ago.

"Shadow I gotta say, you and my daughter made some cute kids. I'm sorry everything ended like it did." she handed Brie over to me, and I felt happier than I had in a long time in that moment.

"Da-Da"

No fucking way

"Di- did she just call me dada?" I quickly glanced up to Rouge and saw the smile she had on her face.

"I told ya she'd be a daddy's girl."

I sat down in the sand, holding Brie. Rouge sat next to me, we didn't say a word, just stared off into the sunset.

I hope Sebastian is okay…

2 Weeks after the safehouse massacre.*

Sebastian's POV

"Sally, please hurry, we haven't heard from dad at all since we left." I tugged her shirt as she drove.

"Sebastian I know, just give me a minute okay? We will be there soon, I promise."

I sat back and tried to relax. He promised he'd be back… he can't die, he's Shadow the Hedgehog. We suddenly pulled up to the safehouse and saw the carnage that laid in front of us.

"Holy shit… Sebastian don't go in there." Sally called to me, but I was already in the front door. I saw blood everywhere on the white walls, the couch and counters were also painted in dried blood. I turned the corner and my eyes met a white hedgehog lying on the ground, lifeless. Suddenly, I felt my heart drop. I turned around the next corner and saw dark legs laid out, as I followed them up, I saw the red streaks, then I saw the black and red quills.

"DAD" I screamed out, Sally was now close behind me. I jumped onto him and began shaking him.

"Sally he's cold, whys he sold cold?" I glanced back and saw tears falling from her eyes.

"Sebastian I'm sorry… but he's gone."

I felt my anger build, I couldn't believe he was gone too, I was the only one left. I ran over to Sally and hugged her. She too was in tears. I didn't find out until later why she was so emotional when it came to Shadow and Rouge, it turns out Sally was Rouges best, and only friend growing up. She was at the wedding, she was at my birth and Brie's, it all made sense why I was with her now. She was practically family. She hugged me tight in the moment as she carried me out and placed me in the car. She made a call as I buried my hands in my face and sobbed. Everything I knew and loved was gone. All over him protecting us, protecting me. Sally got off the phone and hopped in the car, the ride back was filled with silence. Once we returned to the Acorn Kingdom, I went straight to the room I was being kept in. I laid there for hours, maybe even days without leaving my room. The same thoughts came back into my head.

That cat wasn't there, she had to be the one… she had to be. I looked over at a framed picture of me, mom and dad. We were all smiling, yes, even Shadow was smiling! Mom, Dad, I promise I'll kill her, I'll make her pay for what she's done. I sat the photo back down and walked out of my room, heading for the training room.

Well that really happened didn't it? Shadows really gone, so is Rouge and Brie. Poor Sebastian is left all alone too, one can only imagine what he's going through… but like Blaze said, all good things must come to an end, right? Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this story, oh, you thought it was finished? NOPE, here's a little something extra for ya :)

Epilogue: Redemption

*13 years later*

I was awoken by a phone call, I glanced over at my alarm clock. 2am, this better be good. I reluctantly got up and grabbed my phone, but my entire attitude changed when I realized who was calling. My ears perked up as I read the name. Sally.

"Well Sally, it's been a while." I answered the phone calmly.

"Yes it has Sebastian, yes it has indeed. It's not my place… but there's word going around the Kingdom that I thought you should know."

"I'm all ears Sal, what's up?"

"It's Blaze… she's been spotted west of here, in a small village."

I froze as the words hit my ears, my heart began pumping furiously.

"Are you sure… no bullshit?" I had spent the last 4 years looking for her, with all my leads ending with no Blaze.

"I saw her myself."

"I'll be back in the Kingdom within a week, when I kill her, will you arrest me?"

There was a long pause before she answered.

"We never had this conversation and I have no clue you're gonna be there, okay?"

"Good enough for me, and hey, Sal… thanks."

I ended the call and decided now was as good a time as any to start packing. I had lived on my own for the last 4 years, hunting Blaze and training as I went, Sally had no problem with what I was doing, but it would reflect badly on her Kingdom, so I left for good. After 13 long fucking years. I was finally gonna kill the bitch that came at my family the most. People had always told me along my Journey that revenge wouldn't make me feel better, wouldn't bring back Shadow, Rouge or Brie. But to hell with that, they don't know me. I knew as soon as I killed her, everything would feel better. I gathered my things and glanced into the mirror in front of me. My father's leather jacket was worn, but it gave me comfort. It always made me feel stronger wearing it, even though I mentally knew it didn't, it just made it feel like he was always around. I also wore his inhibitor rings after he passed, that way I too could control my powers. For the last 13 years, everytime I close my eyes I see Shadows body in the kitchen floor, blood everywhere. The image haunted me, but soon it would no longer. I began my long journey to the small village, along the way I decided to take a boat to a small, quite island. It was a rainy day, the air was filled with rain and the sound of thunder. I walked along the beach for awhile until I came across two large grave stones.

Here lies Rouge the Bat, the world's greatest Jewel thief and mother.

Here lies Shadow the Hedgehog, notorious for almost saving and destroying the planet, loving father.

"Mom, Dad… today's the day. I get my revenge… our revenge today. I was informed by Sally that I would find them in a small village outside the kingdom. I-... I really wish you two were here. I miss you more and more everyday. I love you."

"I love you too son."

My heart froze and my ears perked up at the sound of my father's voice. I turned around to find him standing there, yet he wasn't himself. He was a misty form.

"Dad? How are you doing this?"

"I can't do this often without it doing more harm than good. I've watched you for years son, you've done a great job raising yourself, and I just wanted to say that i'm sorry that I let myself get killed, I wanted to be there for you, to raise you son. I truly love you, and I hope you get some closure out of all of this."

"I love you too dad, tell mom I miss her too."

"Will do buddy, now go finish what I started so long ago."

He slowly faded away, and I felt a tear roll down my cheek. Was that real, or did I just imagine all this? No matter, I have to get this over with.

After traveling back to the mainland, I found the small secluded village Sally had told me about. It was early morning, judging by the moons position it had to be around 2am. The village was dead silent, it was actually quite spooky in a way. I walked slowly through the street, looking at the names on the mailboxes until I came across a funny sounding name.

This has to be a fake name.

I crept up slowly onto the front porch of the house and peered in. Inside was a purple cat watching TV, with three children asleep in sleeping bags on the floor. A tall male cat entered the room, he was all black, with sharp green eyes. I decided not to attack right here and now. Instead I walked off back to the hill and decided to sleep until morning, where I would hopefully find her off guard.

When morning came, I watched as the male cat left the house in a suit, surely he was going to work.

Perfect, I need to take advantage of this.

I walked down the street, people running inside their houses as they saw me coming, I could feel them watching through the blinds of their houses. I walked onto the front porch and was about to knock when the door was opened by one of the three kids.

"Oh, are you one of mom's friends?" the smaller cat girl asked.

"Sure, a friend, mind fetching her for me?"

With a nod and a smile, she leaned back and yelled for her mom. The three kids then walked out the door and down to the sidewalk, looks like they were waiting for the bus to take them to school. I turned and my eyes were met by non other than those of Blaze the cat.

"Um, do I know you?" she asked with a confused look, walking out onto the porch with me. The kids turned and noticed their moms attitude change.

"Know me? Sure ya do, remember me? You should. You killed my parents and my sister 13 years ago.

Her eyes widened at my words. "Sebastian?"

I returned her question with an evil grin. "That's right, see, you do know me." She quickly reached for a gun she had in her back pocket, but I quickly snatched it out of her hands and hit her with it.

"MOM!"

"STAY OUT OF THIS LITTLE TWERPS, UNLESS YOU WANNA END UP DEAD LIKE YOUR MOM HERE IN A SECOND." I screamed, sending them off running. I heard one mutter "find dad"

"God help me." Blaze said under her breath. I stuck the barrel of the pistol under her chin and forced her to look into my eyes.

"God? I'm your god now, I'm judge, jury, and executioner. The court finds you guilty, and I will deliver your punishment by burying this bullet in your head."

I felt her begin to shiver. I heard sirens in the distance, I knew my time was getting cut short, it was now or never. Without any hesitation, I squeezed the trigger, leaving the cat to fall over, blood spewing everywhere. Screams echoed the village. I kicked in the door and glanced around for something to help me get away. I walked upstairs and felt a presence, chaos energy! I walked into what appeared to be Blazes room, and grabbed the blue chaos emerald she had on display.

"Chaos Control now." With a flash of light, I was gone forever, never to be seen again.

Present Day*

"Wow papa Sebastian, that's amazing. I'm sorry you had such a rough childhood, but I'm glad you got to work everything out."

"Of course, now go outside and play with your brother. I'll be out to play ball with you guys in a little bit."

I watched as my granddaughter ran out the door. I stood up and glanced over at the window, watching her and her brother play in the snow. Not a day went by where I didn't miss Shadow or Rouge, but here I was, 65 years old, retired, about to be in the snow playing with my grandkids. Life was good, life was finally normal again.

Well that's a wrap on Fugitive, Shadow and Rouge both ended up dying, but we're avenged by Sebastian later down the line. I would've made these chapters longer, but I felt there was no need to force writing when the story was already being told in a certain pace. This officially ends my 3 part story, but I've already posted the first chapter to my next story. Feel free to check it out, it's called "Awakened". Hope you guys enjoyed this, I enjoyed Sebastian as a character and will likely bring him back later, but you'll have to read the new series and see where Shadow goes and who he makes his allies and who he makes his enemies! 


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